


it's a love story (baby just say yes)

by bs13



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: (p.s. these bitches are gay), F/F, and everyone else is just here to vibe, based on taylor swift's 'love story' so it has that romeo/juliet kinda modern vibe, soulmate au ft. a meet cute/meet messy situation, the zor-els and the luthors are just feuding rich families here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29483505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bs13/pseuds/bs13
Summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single person in possession of a soulmark must be in want of a soulmate...except, nothing could have prepared Kara Zor-El to find said soulmate in Lena Luthor (aka sworn-enemy-on-basic-principle-Luthor) of all people.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 50
Kudos: 644
Collections: Supercorp Content Creators' Guild Valentine's Day Exchange 2021





	it's a love story (baby just say yes)

**Author's Note:**

> i had the pleasure of writing for kiandra ([twitter](https://twitter.com/kmsdraws)/[tumblr](https://kmsdraws.tumblr.com/)) as part of our gc valentine's day exchange this year and i was so STOKED!! go check out her amazing art/writing/EVERYTHING right this very minute if u have not, she is drop dead amazing at everything she does 💕💕💕 
> 
> i knew going into this that i wouldn't be able to write something as long or as serious as last year's exchange, but my love for backstory/aus really bleeds through LOL so i know this seems ambitious (and quite vague, considering the lyrics of the song it's based on), but idc! kiandra i know you're a taylor swift fan, so i really wanted to capture the essence of one of her songs via a supercorp meet-cute (though it ended up turning into more of a meet-messy oops). it's more kara introspection than anything, but i knew i wanted two things going into this fic: 1) a description of falling in love @ first sight with lena luthor bc how could anyone not, and 2) a slight forbidden love/romeo & juliet thing going on. i hope i managed both, even in this super super short format 😅 ( i deliberately aimed for short & sweet.... i dont think i have the range)
> 
> but aNyway it was so so fun to write this little universe, and it was an immense joy to write for kiandra (who is one of the absolute best people in the whole ass world , have i mentioned that yet? 😘) happy belated valentine's day !

“What do you think is gayer: Winn’s outfit, or whatever Alex and Kelly have going on?”

Kara mindlessly trails her fingertips against the open window. The AC in Winn’s car does not work—never has—and the afternoon is the worst kind of warm, sticky and suffocating. Her mind feels thick with the heat, unfocused and distorted; maybe that’s why her judgement is so poor today.

“Fuck you,” Alex answers on her own behalf, distinctively uninterested. She seemingly lacks the energy to put up more of a fight (or the patience, because once Nia gets started it can roll on for hours).

“Hey,” Winn interjects in protest, “what's wrong with my outfit? If this is about my ascot, forget it! Because it’s staying.”

James sucks in a breath between his teeth. “You know, she does have a point there,” he says haltingly. “It’s…pretty gay, man.”

“Wha—are you serious? My own boyfriend, betraying me—”

The rest of the conversation sort of jumbles together after that. Kara keeps her gaze trained outside, where she can ignore Nia’s elbow in her gut and Alex’s music reverberating on the shitty sound system, and watches the setting sun. A hazy film rolls over the bright green lawns and lavish front yards; each passing blur feels like a warning. Like, a _stop while you’re ahead_ kind of warning.

But they press on, and no one voices any kind of concern. Kara is by no means the voice of reason, either; that role is already fulfilled by Kelly, and she is spared their idiotic plans because she’s volunteering at the hospital tonight. (Also, no one has told her about this either, because they do not have a death wish.)

“Hey! I like this song, turn it up,” Nia says. Alex obliges, and Winn’s awful sound system practically groans with the effort. AC/DC’s distorted sound fills the air, the Luthor mansion gates approach, and suddenly Kara feels the urge to smile.

Crashing a Lex Luthor party is surprisingly easy. Winn parks the car off the side of the road, and they scale a low fence devoid of security because of _course_ the Luthors need security. Kara stops to tug a branch out of Nia’s hair; James fixes his tie; Winn pauses to catch his breath.

“Last chance to turn back?” Alex offers in the ensuing silence.

For a moment there is nothing but shared, understanding looks, and an unspoken unanimous decision. They melt into the crowd inconspicuously enough—they planned to split up from the beginning, in order not to draw attention. 

So Kara finds herself wandering, no real destination in mind, as her friends disappear. James and Winn have gone to dance, Alex has gone to the open bar, and Nia has decided to track down the caterer (which would normally be Kara’s first move, so, she respects the hustle).

But some nagging feeling in the back of her head makes her stay put. She squeezes through the throngs of well-dressed people of all ages, curiously taking in the contrasting sight of the masquerading older crowd and the scantily clad youth. It’s like everyone dressed for two separate parties: strictly Great Gatsby-esque, and club scene. Kara fits somewhere in the middle with her half-suit, and she unbuttons the top few buttons of her shirt because the heat refuses to let up even as night time begins to fall.

Rolling up her sleeves is a no-brainer as well, except…there is the whole issue of her soulmark. And while Kara has never been the type to care about the ongoing social battle of whether or not it’s acceptable to show off one’s soulmark, hers reads “ _you’re not supposed to be here_ ;” a bit on the nose, really. Nevertheless, she leaves it up to fate, because it’s too warm and she is willing to wager the darkness will hide her forearm enough.

Alex catches up to her by the pool area, which has been roped off for the occasion. She has a drink in hand for Kara, which she presses into her palm without even offering first. “So,” she says, “what do you think of the Luthor house? Pretty shabby?”

“Yeah,” Kara laughs, taking in the enormous, glittering pool. “They’re really slumming it here.” She takes a sip from her tumbler—just enough to wet her lips with expensive scotch—before handing it back. “What do you think?”

It is a vague enough question, and Alex understands completely. “This seems…normal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s _rich people_ normal,” she says. “But, judging from your dad’s stories, I keep expecting sharks to jump out at us right now or something.”

“I don’t know if crashing this party was a good idea,” Kara admits, sliding her hands in her pockets just to give them something to do. “I mean, it sounded funny when Nia suggested it, but…”

“But now it’s real and boring?” Alex finishes.

Kara smiles a bit, feels her mouth twist ruefully. “I guess, somehow, I thought coming here would change my mind,” she says. “And I don’t know what I’m looking for exactly.”

“More of this, for starters,” Alex says, holding up Kara’s glass and shaking it as if that is meant to be enticing enough. “Then we can dip into the deep stuff.”

“Like what?” Kara asks, and even accepts the glass for a longer drink this time around as a show of good faith.

“Like—what the hell we’re here for,” Alex says. “We’re practically sisters, Zor-El. I know you better than you know yourself sometimes.” As if to prove her point, she jabs her finger right between Kara’s eyes. “You have the crinkle.”

“Ugh, the _crinkle_.” Kara bats her hand away, jostling her drink enough that it spills a few drops over her knuckles. “Are you majoring in being cryptic? What are we even talking about?”

Alex shrugs. Her own glass is all but gone, and she finishes it off in one go. “You rich people are so dense,” she says. “I mean, you’ve been told your whole life how you’re supposed to act. And to top it off, your parents want to tell you how you’re supposed to _feel_. I think a little rebellion is overdue, honestly.”

It’s blunt and direct and it’s…well, it's not wrong. Kara has always followed the rules all her life; that’s what has been expected of her. She knows the people she’s supposed to suck up to, the places she’s supposed to frequent, the things she is expected to buy. The double-edged sword is that she also knows exactly what to _avoid_ , and in the people category that has one name: the Luthors. (Nia likes to address this particular family feud with, “What is this, fucking Shakespearean times?”)

But Kara has never thought about this. Never given it that much weight. It’s always been a fact, and a rather common one at that: _avoid the Luthor family_ , like it is as normal as remembering to brush her teeth in the morning. She was never even given a reason why, and has never thought to ask. Or been brave enough to ask.

Hell, this whole adventure is probably the bravest she’s ever been. And that’s what drives her to hand off her drink to Alex (who gladly takes it), and ask,

“What do you think would happen if we just started swimming?”

“We would be the most interesting people at this party,” Alex says. “Should I go find the others? Might as well get all of us kicked out at once.”

“Sure, why not,” Kara jokes, but Alex takes it as a serious endeavour and promptly vanishes—after nodding in a sagely tipsy way that suggests Kara is in for a troubling night.

Alone and with probably too many thoughts that will occupy at least three therapy sessions, Kara decides she might as well be the irresponsible party student that everyone expects a rich young woman to be. So she ducks underneath the velvet ropes and then begins to wander.

She is so stuck in her head, just imagining what going to her parents and asking point-blank for an explanation would be like, that she almost misses it entirely when someone says,

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

Maybe it’s social conditioning, or maybe it’s the fact that her family has always, _always_ , stressed the value of soulmates, but those words are like a gunshot in deafening silence. They shock Kara right into freezing in place, completely stunned, as she comes face-to-face with none other than Lena Luthor.

Like her brother, Lena is someone Kara knows from afar. At best, all she has is casual knowledge: that Lena is in college, that Lena has a fondness for philanthropy, that Lena is always pictured going horseback riding with her father. Nothing has prepared Kara for the possibility of just—just _meeting_ Lena, and being presented with the idea that she could be her soulmate.

Kara has thought about this more than she cares to admit. Some days she plans a crafty reply to the words on her arm, and some days she treats it casually, makes it a joke. Neither come to mind now, and all she does is stare blankly at the woman before her and say, “You’re…not who I was expecting.”

Lena Luthor has always been an imposing figure on camera. The whole Zor-El/Luthor feud has, admittedly, been a source of curiosity now and then; Kara isn’t _totally_ delusional, she’s seen pictures and read tabloids just like any other human being. But the Lena she has always seen—the Lena she met two seconds ago—is dignified and unyielding. She wears tight expensive clothes and dark red lipstick and scowls for paparazzi, and when she is faced with trespassers at her family party she treats them with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.

And yet. Lena’s expression shifts immediately at Kara’s words, stern demeanor fading into quite notable surprise. Her lips part, and her jaw slackens, revealing a softer side to the whole imposing-cut-from-marble thing she has going on (objectively, Kara can note that Lena has a fantastic facial structure). Her eyes, which are a stunning green, go a bit wider and her arms fall to her sides, revealing the elegant black dress she wears. “What did you say?” 

Kara swallows, and finds that it takes a considerable amount of effort to do so. “I’m sorry, that—” she falters. “Did that sound rude? I didn’t mean it that way. I only meant that, well, you’re…Lena Luthor. And I’m—”

“Kara Zor-El,” Lena says. “Yes, I’m well aware.” She crosses her arms again, but this time uncomfortably, and takes a step back like she is afraid to be seen beside Kara. “You really aren’t supposed to be here.” 

“Right,” Kara gets out. “The—the ropes, and all that.”

“Yes,” Lena says. “And you’re also not supposed to be on this property at all.” A pause. “We have a guest list, and it has been properly vetted. Did you bribe one of our employees? Because that is a terminable offense.”

“No, we snuck in,” Kara rushes to reply. “Please don’t fire anyone.”

Lena frowns, and her whole face seems to twist with it. _She is pretty_ , Kara thinks dazedly, _even when upset_. “Oh,” Lena says. “I see what this is. You decide to crash a party with your girlfriend, have a laugh at the expense of the family you hate. Well I’m not a fool, and neither is my brother. You can kindly take your leave the same way you came.”

 _How did she not realize this sooner?_ Lena Luthor is attractive. Willfully consuming all Luthor gossip through indifferent goggles was one thing, but now that the whole questioning the family feud thing is on the table, Kara is seeing through a whole new perspective. If she’d dared to imagine earlier, then maybe…maybe she wouldn’t be standing poolside with a pretty girl staring daggers at her. _Wait_.

“Uh, actually, I don’t. Have a girlfriend,” Kara explains. “My friends and I kind of—well, this was a last minute decision. I mean, Winn showed up here with an ascot. Not that you know who he is. But he’s one of my friends, and when I told him to dress fancy because I’ve seen how your family dresses, he decided an ascot was the way to go. His boyfriend didn’t even tell him anything, but that’s just because James loves him enough not to be mean about it, so…” She trails off. “Sorry. Um. I’m rambling because I don’t really know what happens now.”

Lena bites her lip carefully, and she seems so…hesitant. Her hair is up in an intricate braid that frames her exposed shoulders, and Kara wonders if she’s cold at all; the lingering summer heat seems to have finally gone. “I don’t know either,” she says. She pauses to rub at the inside of her wrist, smudging at the concealing makeup that must be over her soulmark. “What if it’s not you?”

“Do you not want it to be?” It is a big question to ask, but a necessary one. Kara feels her stomach flutter as soon as the words come out, because all of a sudden she’s terrified the answer is going to be no.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to be,” Lena says quietly, and she rubs at her arms uneasily. “I just. Don’t want to jump to conclusions, if you’re not really…”

“No, I uh,” Kara rubs at the back of her neck awkwardly, “I get it. I kind of imagined this going so much smoother? Like, you’d say your thing and I’d say mine and it would just _click_. You know, how all the stories are supposed to go.”

“Exactly,” Lena breathes out, quite evidently relieved, and she does this little half-laugh that almost turns into a smile. A dimple looks like it is about to form on her cheek, but disappears with her laugh. It’s…really cute. And kind of hard to ignore, now that Kara is trying to treat this situation logically.

“Can I ask you a question?” Kara blurts out. 

“Go ahead,” Lena replies unsurely, and Kara does:

“Do you know why our families hate each other?”

Lena blinks, as if that is not at all what she expected the question to be. “No,” she says slowly, head tilting slightly and brow furrowing in thought. “No, I suppose not. I’ve…never asked.”

“Me neither!” And suddenly Kara is the one laughing, brushing away her flyaway hair as it blows into her face. “This whole time, I have been—I don’t know. Listening blindly to whatever I’m told. And this is—this is _crazy_ , right? Like, the universe has a twisted sense of humor?”

“I suppose,” Lena says, looking at Kara in confusion, as if she’s expecting Kara to become unhinged.

“But,” and Kara feels her bravado falter, “it makes sense. I mean, I know I don’t know you very well yet, but I think we might make sense. We certainly have a lot in common, I think. Is that presumptuous to say? I don’t want to pressure you, obviously, but I guess what I’m saying is…I don’t care about some stupid family fight. I’d, um, I’d like to get to know you outside of it all.”

Lena stares at her for a moment. Her expression is indiscernible, blank in a manner that makes Kara’s heart race. Then finally she says, “So you don’t care that I’m a Luthor.”

“Not unless you care that I’m a Zor-El,” Kara says nervously. “Like Shakespeare said, ‘what’s in a name?’ and…and all that.”

“How eloquently put,” and suddenly, Lena smiles, and Kara gets her first real glimpse of that dimple. “Kara Zor-El, you are terrible at asking a girl out.”

Kara feels her mouth twist into a grin of her own, entirely of its own volition. It’s weird that Lena says her full name like that, but it’s. Well. _Adorable_. “Is this your way of saying you’re amenable to a date?”

“I wouldn't be opposed,” Lena says, a bit shyly, and Kara’s chest might burst with how rapidly her heart is beating.

“In that case—would you want to go out with me for dinner sometime?” Kara asks. “You know. In the interest of getting to know each other.”

Lena takes a questioning step forward, and she gazes at Kara like she is something undeniably amusing, but in a nice way; her eyes are smiling as she replies, “I’d like that…in the interest of getting to know each other.”

They gravitate towards each other unconsciously, and all Kara wants to do now is ask,

“So how cold is your pool?”

Lena gives her a skeptical glare. “We have a pool heater,” she says, “but we’ve been preparing for this party, and with no one swimming lately, we elect not to keep it on when we don’t need it.”

Kara pouts, just for show. “So it’s cold?”

“Yes, it is _very_ —”

“CANNONBALL!”

Kara doesn’t even have to turn to look in order to know that her friends have, unfortunately, arrived. And that they have all jumped into the pool that is, well:

“—very cold,” Lena finishes, horrified. Kara winces in sympathy at the ensuing shouts between her friends; that is certainly one way to sober anybody.

“These are my friends, by the way,” she mentions. “I’m sure they’ll like to meet you, after they uh…” Kara gestures at them for a second, then sheepishly adds, “We’re going to be kicked out of here pretty soon, huh?”

“Oh, definitely,” Lena says, and she’s unapologetic in the way she smiles.

“In that case—” And yeah, maybe this isn’t the smoothest of moves (nor the most romantic), but as Kara pulls Lena into the freezing water, she already knows she’s going to remember it forever.

Lena emerges gasping, red-faced and shocked, and as Kara bobs up and down happily Lena’s jaw completely drops.

“Oh, you are in _so_ much trouble,” Lena warns, but her mascara is already beginning to run and she’s just about the most beautiful sight that Kara has ever seen, and so she kisses her.

Kisses her, and though their lips are cold and it should be uncomfortable, Lena clings to her wet shoulders and smiles against her mouth; and Kara thinks that _yeah, this is it. This is what she has been waiting for._


End file.
